Long Service Medal for the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, 1910-1935

The Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve was instituted in 1903, and in 1909 provision was made for the award of a Long Service Medal to its members. 12 years' `efficient' service, including service in the
Volunteer or Territorial Forces of the Army or service from the age of 17 in a Cadet Corps would qualify one for the award. Various other auxiliary branches that had been reshuffled in the changes made to the Reserve Forces in Edward VII's reign also counted towards this total.
The medal used for this award was exactly the same, including in ribbon, as a contemporary award for Long Service in the Royal Naval Reserve, the RNVR's professional counterpart. As the awards were sanctioned in 1909, and Edward VII died in 1910, very few medals were issued with his portrait. From 1910 the medal bore a portrait of King George V by Richard Garbe, and it is one of this issue that belongs to the Watson Collection.
This medal was awarded to Stoker J. Whelan, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. Lester Watson purchased it at some point before 1928.